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Anti-Clean Line Energy Group Sets Date

A public information meeting to further discuss the proposed Clean Line Energy Partners direct-current transmission line through western Arkansas will be held 6 p.m. April 29 at the Mulberry Fairgrounds.

Arkansas Citizens Against Clean Line Energy is organizing the meeting for landowners in Crawford, Johnson and Franklin counties who have land where the line may be built. State Rep. Charlotte Vining Douglas will moderate. Also expected to attend are state Reps. Charlene Fite, Justin Harris, Gary Deffenbaugh and Bill Gossage and state Sens. Brian King and Gary Stubblefield.

The 700-mile Plains & Eastern Line plans to carry 3,500 megawatts of Great Plains wind-generated energy across 11 counties in Arkansas to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. It is one of five lines Houston-based Clean Line Energy plans. A 500-megawatt converter station is planned near Little Rock to capture the energy, Clean Line Executive Vice President Mario Hertado said. The power is enough to supply electricity for 240,000 homes.

Kathy Mason of Arkansas Citizens Against Clean Line Energy said she expects 300 people at the meeting, at Arkansas 215 north of Mulberry.

In 2010, the Arkansas Public Service Commission denied Clean Line eminent domain access. There were no plans for Arkansas access to the energy. John Bethel, executive director of the state commission, said there is no application from Clean Line for consideration as a public utility.

The Plains & Eastern Clean Line project, however, is undergoing an environmental review with the National Environmental Policy Act, led by the U.S. Department of Energy and in coordination with the Southwestern Power Administration. Based on the current schedule, it’s anticipated that the DOE will publish a Draft Environmental Impact Statement with a proposed route in the second half of 2014.

Douglas said federal eminent domain is a possibility under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In Section 1221, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is granted authority to issue a federal permit empowering a project director to exercise the right of eminent domain to purchase property needed to complete the project. Section 1222 qualifies “third-party financing” though the Southwestern Power Administration.

The transmission line is being considered an issue of national importance, Hertado said.

On page 15 of Clean Line’s 53-page, 2010 project proposal under Section 1222, the company claims to meet the five criteria set by the DOE for third-party financing, primarily being a “national interest electric transmission corridor.”

Mason said there was no contract for the substation in Arkansas. Douglas said she wants to make sure Clean Line has a contract for the substation if public utility status is considered.

Clean Line’s renewable energy source is promoted as being cheaper than fossil fuel-generated energy, without the carbon emissions. The company also says studies show there are no adverse health effects from the electrical or magnetic fields. The Clean Line web page, which includes with more frequently asked questions, is at www.plainsandeasterncleanline.com.

Mason said a health professional will attend the meeting.

“There are no known long-term health impacts from the EMF associated with a transmission line,” according to the Clean Line website. “The static electric field of a DC line when standing beneath the conductors is 10 times weaker than the static electric charge you may get from walking across a carpet on a dry winter day.”

On April 4, Plains and Eastern Clean Line, a subsidiary of Clean Line Energy Partners, filed an application with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. This filing is a request for certification of an interstate transmission line and for certification as a wholesale transmission-only public utility in the state of Tennessee.

In 2011, Clean Line Energy announced an agreement to buy cable for the Plains & Eastern Line from General Cable’s Malvern facility. Clean Line is also using steel from Baekart in Van Buren.